Covid live news: Pfizer expects clinical data for under 5s in April; Italy to mandate vaccines for over 50s | World news

Leaders of Chicago public schools have cancelled classes for a second consecutive day on Thursday after failing to reach an agreement with the teachers’ union over Covid-19 safety protocols.

The cancellation marks the latest development in an escalating battle over pandemic safety measures in the US’s third-largest school district.

The Chicago Teachers Union sought to revert to remote instruction during the latest surge of Covid infections and while both sides hammer out a deal. Chicago public school leaders have said remote learning didn’t work and schools can safely remain open with protocols in place.

The move to cancel classes and activities on Thursday affects roughly 350,000 students and came after closed-door negotiations on Wednesday failed to produce a deal.

“We have no choice but to cancel classes tomorrow,” said Pedro Martinez, CEO of Chicago public schools, at a Wednesday evening news conference.

Here’s more from our correspondent Gloria Oladipo:

That’s it from me, Helen Livingstone, for today. Before I go, here’s a quick round up of the main events of the past 24 hours:

• Pfizer has said it expects the latest results from its Covid vaccine clinical trial for children under the age of 5 – which will include booster shots – by April. Dr Alejandra Gurtman, a Pfizer vaccine researcher, said the company could even have data for the age group by the end of March.
• Italy has made it obligatory for people aged 50 or more to be vaccinated against Covid-19 as the country scrambles to ease pressure on hospitals and reduce deaths amid a dramatic surge in infections.
• Novak Djokovic, who was due to defend his Australian Open title this month, is challenging the rejection of his visa and impending deportation from Melbourne in a court of law. There had been an outcry over the controversial “medical exemption” he received from the tournament’s organisers.
• Australia is reporting another record day for case numbers, with more than 72,000 logged so far on Thursday. The country’s most populous state, New South Wales, recorded around half of those with 31% of those tested given a positive result.
• The French parliament suspended debate on a new Covid law as opposition lawmakers demanded explanations from President Emmanuel Macron about comments in which he said he wanted to “piss off” unvaccinated people.
• A day after Hong Kong announced a two-week ban on flights from eight countries with rising Omicron cases, neighbouring Macau has gone a step further; the autonomous region has banned all civilian flights other than those coming from mainland China.
• Only two months after introducing quarantine-free entry for vaccinated tourists, Thailand has now suspended the scheme everywhere except in the island of Phuket. With nearly 4,000 cases reported on Wednesday, mostly local transmissions, health officials warned the country could soon be facing “tens of thousands” of new cases per day.
• Rather than closing borders, Singapore has declared that people won’t be considered fully vaccinated unless they have received a booster within nine months of their second dose. The policy comes into effect in February.
• This year’s Grammy awards, set to take place on 31 January, have been postponed as a result of the pandemic. In a statement, organisers said: “The health and safety of those in our music community, the live audience and the hundreds of people who work tirelessly to produce our show remains our top priority.”
• Germany is considering shortening self-isolation periods over fears that critical services could grind to a halt, according to health ministry plan. Workers in critical sectors, such as hospitals or electricity suppliers, would be able to end their isolation after five days, provided they get a negative PCR test, under the draft proposals.
• The president of Poland has tested positive for coronavirus for a second time, after several people around him were infected. Andrzej Duda previously caught Covid in October 2020.
• Mozambique president Filipe Nyusi’s PCR results came back negative for Covid-19 after Nyusi and his wife Isaura tested positive via rapid tests days earlier, the president’s office said on Wednesday.
• Pre-departure tests for people travelling to England are to be scrapped. Boris Johnson announced that the requirement would be lifted from 4am on Friday, along with the need for travellers to self-isolate on arrival until they receive a negative PCR test result.
• The president of Israel, Isaac Herzog, has become the first world leader to get a fourth Covid jab. On Monday Israel became the first country in the world to embark on a fourth Covid-19 vaccination campaign starting with those over 60.

If you’re doing the dishes or on your daily commute and you need something to listen to, check out our Science Weekly podcast, which this week looks at why reinfection rates are so high for Omicron and what that means for public health measures:

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is expanding the eligibility of Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE’s booster doses to those 12 to 15 years old, Reuters reports.

The move came after a panel of outside experts advising the CDC voted earlier to recommend booster shots of the COVID-19 vaccine be made available for ages 12 to 15.

The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted 13 to 1 to recommend that the US health agency support booster shots for those aged 12 to 15 at least five months after their second dose.

The panel also said the CDC should strengthen its recommendation for boosters for ages 16 and 17. The agency had previously made the shots available to those teenagers, but had stopped short of suggesting that all of them should receive the additional jab.

The CDC said in a statement it now recommended that adolescents age 12 to 17 years old should receive a booster shot five months after their initial Pfizer/BioNTech vaccination series.

Covid-19 cases in the United States have hit record levels in recent days due to the fast spreading Omicron variant of the virus. Infection rates are surging as many workers and school children return from holiday vacations, raising the prospect of overwhelmed health systems as well as closed businesses and schools.

“Covid is overwhelming our hospitals and our children’s hospitals,” said panel member Dr Katherine Poehling, a professor at Wake Forest School of Medicine. “This is a tool we need to use, and help our children through this pandemic.”

Data from Israel’s Health Ministry presented at the meeting suggested that vaccinated children aged 12 to 15 who were five to six months past their second dose were being infected at the same rate as unvaccinated kids by the Omicron variant of the virus. After receiving a booster shot, the infection rate dropped sharply, according to the data.

Another update on Djokovic’s case – for non-locals, 4pm is in half an hour.

India’s new Covid-19 cases have soared to 90,928 in the past 24 hours, the health ministry said on Thursday, Reuters reports, from 58,097 a day earlier.

Daily deaths rose by 325, taking the total to 482,876. Total infections are at 35.11 million.

Novak Djokovic’s father, Srdjan, has compared his son to Spartacus after Australia cancelled the visa of the world’s No.1 tennis player despite his receipt of a medical exemption from coronavirus vaccination rules.

“Tonight they can throw him in a dungeon, tomorrow they can put him in chains. The truth is he is like water and water paves its own path. Novak is the Spartacus of the new world which won’t tolerate injustice, colonialism and hypocrisy,” Srdjan told Russian media.

Serbian president Aleksandar Vučić has also accused Australia of “harassment” – a claim which was rejected by Australian prime minister Scott Morrison – and told Djokovic that “the whole of Serbia is with him”.

Our correspondent Helen Davidson has more:

A small crowd has now gathered outside the Melbourne hotel where Novak Djokovic is being held as he awaits deportation.

About 10 supporters, some draped in flags are playing Serbian music and singing.

There is also dancing:

As the Omicron variant makes its way through Southeast Asia, countries are introducing new restrictions after tentative attempts at reopening, our correspondent Andrew Nachemson reports.

Only two months after introducing quarantine-free entry for vaccinated tourists, Thailand has now suspended the scheme everywhere except in the island of Phuket. With nearly 4,000 cases reported on Wednesday, mostly local transmissions, health officials warned the country could soon be facing “tens of thousands” of new cases per day.

Authorities reportedly plan to meet tomorrow, with the Health Ministry recommending keeping the ban in place until at least the end of January. It’s a dramatic reversal for a country that had hoped to restart its tourism industry, which provided around 22% of its GDP in 2019.

In the Philippines, authorities cancelled one of the country’s most popular religious events, a Christian parade that typically draws millions of revellers. It’s the second year in a row the procession has been cancelled, and comes as the Philippines reported nearly 11,000 cases on Wednesday, its largest daily surge since 10 October.

Rather than closing borders, Singapore has declared that people won’t be considered fully vaccinated unless they have received a booster within nine months of their second dose. The policy comes into effect in February.

“Given the higher transmissibility of the Omicron variant, we are likely to experience an infection wave that is greater than that of Delta,” read a government press release, warning that even if the variant is milder it could still put a strain on the healthcare system.

According to government data, the city-state is one of the most vaccinated countries in the region, with 87% of the population fully vaccinated and over 40% already boosted.